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Did Vladimir Putin meet Ronald Reagan in 1988?

11Alive Staff, WXIA 7:16 p.m. EST March 5, 2014

President Ronald Reagan is introduced to Russian tourists by then-Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in Moscow in 1988. Is that current Russian president Vladimir Putin on the left? (Reagan Presidential Library)(Photo: WXIA)

(WXIA) -- A photo making the rounds in newspapers and on blogs this week shows President Ronald Reagan during a 1988 visit to Red Square in Moscow. But the most interesting part of the image is a tourist on the left of the frame with a camera.

Could that be a younger Vladimir Putin?

The photo was taken by current chief White House photographer Pete Souza, who was also chief White House photographer during Reagan's second term. Souza says he is certain that the person is question is the current Russian president.

In a 2009 NPR article, Souza recounts the visit, saying that then-Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev toured Red Square with Reagan, introducing the American president to tourists, many of whom asked Reagan "pointed questions about subjects such as human rights in the United States."

Souza says he turned to a Secret Service agent, surprised that the tourists were asking these sorts of questions. The agent told Souza that the families were all KGB families.

At the time the photo was taken, Putin would have been 36 years old, and had been with the KGB since 1975.

Russian authorities have long-since denied that Putin was the tourist seen in the Reagan photograph, but questions continue to linger.